Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Paranormal Alive and Well?

by Christie Kelley

I'll admit it...I love the paranormal.

Ghosts, vampires, werewolves even time travel. The fantasy of something else being out there with us intrigues me. It might be the result of growing up in a hundred year old house that always had creepy sounds. Or things walking away from where you put them only to turn up in the same spot two days later. Of course, it could also be the fact that I grew up with eight sneaky brothers and sisters.

In addition to my historicals, I also have a paranormal romance I’m working on. Writing it was so much fun and so very different from the historicals. But now that I’ve written it, I keep hearing that is going to take a down swing any day now.

Really?

It seems to me you can’t turn on the TV these days without some paranormal show being on. Here are just some of my favorites this season:

Those are only the shows I watch. There is a whole bunch of new shows that I haven’t even tried yet.

So now it’s your turn. Tell me, what are your favorite paranormal shows (if you watch them), or your favorite paranormal authors. Or better yet, if you want to share anything that has happened to you in the paranormal range, let me know!

ps.. I'll be without power most of the day here due to the construction on my house so I may not be able to respond to comments until after 6pm edt.

41 comments:

I only started getting into paranormal books and movies within the past 4 years or so. My first paranormal book was Kathryn Smith's Be Mine Tonight. Since then I've read quite a few paranormals and I enjoy them very much!

About movies, I know that many people don't care for Underworld, but I loved it and the sequel.

And who wouldn't love a time traveling or immortal Highlander? Sandy Blair's "A Highlander for Christmas" was fantastic and of course one of my absolute favs Karen Marie Moning.(Have I mentioned a Fey named Adam Black? :-)

I, too have a paranormal in my lineup right after I finish the third in my patrician series. Being of Irish descent...could I do any less?

As this Roman historical writer always says "Write the story (good story) and they will come"

I don't get out much (rarely watch TV or movies--how do you find the time for TV?) but I have always enjoyed fantasy books, and am now getting more into what I call urban fantasy--life in this real world with some kind of fantasy elements, like superpowers or fairies. I'm never sure if other people consider that paranormal, because paranormal usually connotes werewolves and vampires.

My problem is that I don't like blood and violence in my romance. So vampires are obviously out! I do like light, funny paranormal. Anyone here read Stephanie Rowe? Must Love Dragons is hilarious.

No, I don't see paranormals going out of style any time soon, but surely the vampire market must be topping out. Seems like every other book for while had some title with a pun about vampires, blood, or being bitten.

Andrea, way to go! Of course, I never did get my prize for being first on the page...hmmm, must remember to bug Christine about my prize! :-)

Christie, I love paranormal and it seems to stick around, but the forms change. I really liked what Tanya Huff did with vampires, but don't care for most vampire stories that are big hits now. Of course, I haven't tried JR Ward and I have heard she can convert me. *g*

I love fantasy in all forms and, to me, paranormal is simply fantasy in a "monster of the week" format. I always like a good ghost story and am a complete sucker for mythical creatures (but not, generally, vamps or werewolves).

Andrea, I really liked the Underworld movies. Such fun! I also loved Brotherhood Of the Wolf. Maybe it appealed more because it was historical and French? No idea. But I loved it!

I am also enjoying the trend toward historical paranormals. Two great tastes that taste great together! (Oh, that was Reese's peanut butter cups - never mind *g*)

Kirsten, I have had the pleasure to read the first chapters of two of Joan's Roman stories and let me tell you, hers will suck you right into Rome! Of course, I haved loved Roman stories for a long time, but Joan could convert people. Plus, she even has a bit of a paranormal element in one. There you go, Joan, the Roman Paranormal - a new subgenre!

Several months ago,I would have agreed wholeheartedly about vampires topping out. But then I wen to RWA National and discovered Michelle Rowan's vampire books...Fanged and Fabulous is one and (unfortunately, I'm still half asleep and have lent the other titles out) but I've read what she has and they are TOO fun!

On the darker side is Lori Handeland's werewolves. Fairly graphic I agree but great story telling.

And thanks, Inara. The Romans conquered a world once before..they are restless and eyeing the publishing world :-)

Caren, be careful using the word "converted" and "vampire" in the same sentence LOL

I am considered the paranormal expert at my local bookstore. The owner is constantly asking me to read this new author or that new author and tell her what I think. Of course I am also one of the historical romance experts as well. Hmm. I think I read too much. NAAHHHH! I love Christine Feehan, Mary Janice Davidson, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Katie MacAlister, Colleen Gleason, Angela Knight and a number of others. Any Regency set paranormal is a given at my house. Hey, AndreaW, I LOVED Underworld and the sequel! I have been enjoying Moonlight and I do watch The Ghost Whisperer. Pushing Daisies is a hoot. I live in the Deep South, honey, we have ghosts that visit our ghosts.

Okay I think you need to come up the Golden Rooster award for the person who beats the Aussies to the board! Here is my English ghost story. We lived in a house that had been completely redone. The owner had passed away quietly in his sleep and his brother redid the house. Many nights my mother would yell up the stairs for us to get in bed and quit moving things around. Only problem was, we were sound asleep. My youngest brother was not old enough for school so he spent all his time at the house with Mom. She would hear him talking to someone and enter the room to find nobody there, of course. She asked "Who are talking to?" He would always say "John." We assumed John was his imaginary friend. Our three year stay came to an end. The landlord invited us to his house for tea. We were leaving the house when my brother, now 6, pointed at a framed photo on the sideboard and said "That's John." It was a photo of the man's brother, the one who had passed away in the house.

Doglady, that gave me a chill! It's interesting how okay some children are with spirits, while adults like me are completely not okay with them. That is the coolest story ever! Did it completely freak your mom out?

Okay, Doglady, that's SPOOKY. And it made me think of something that happened around Halloween when my oldest was about a year old.

It was that time of year, of course, when ghost busters are everywhere. I'd heard a story about a baby babbling & pointing to the upper corner of the room, much like your "John" story. My oldest wasn't much of a sleeper, so I spent a lot of time in dark rooms while she babbled to the corners & didn't think much of it.

But that night, after hearing that story, the babbling seemed so much more purposeful. Conversational. Spooky. I tried to talk myself out of it, but then she started talking to the door. And then I heard sounds. Sounds that undeniably became footsteps. Footsteps that were coming closer, closer, closer...

The door creaked open & a shadowy figure shambled through the doorway & I let loose a scream of such magnitude that to this day, my husband's eyes go a little unfocused when we speak of it. Apparently, he woke up to the baby's babbling. Still mostly asleep(or he'd have noticed I wasn't in bed, thus sparing him the trouble of getting up), he dragged himself out of bed, across the hall & into the baby's room, where I blasted him to full wakefulness with my foghorn of a scream.

Oh, what fun, Christie! I love paranormals of all varieties. I'm not much on the blood and gore of the vamps and were's but I do love a good pixie/elf/fae story, ghosts are welcome, too, of course. Hauntings, etc. I'm there. Oh, urban fantasy rocks as well.Doglady, I loved what you said about ghosts that visit our ghosts. :> Too true!Susan, you gave me a great full gut laugh on that story! What a crack-up. My eldest son is what I like to call a ghost talker. He's totally nonchalant about it too. He'll point to a picture of my late mother in law and say, "oh, yeah, I talked to her some." I'll remind him that she had passed on long before even I came into the picture, much less him. He'll look at me very seriously, then roll his eyes and say, "Jeez, Mom, I KNOW that." My youngest knows they're there, waves at them, but is MUCH too busy w/ the Thomas trains to pay them any mind. Now when they come play w/ the trains with him, he's cool with it, but otherwise, they're just wallpaper. Oh, did I mention my house was haunted? Grins. Some of the paranormal movies are just too stupid to live, like some of the heros/heroines in some of the vamp books I've read, but the shows are really picking up in quality and think-it-through-ness. :> How's that for making up a word? Snork.

Ha! Christie, the paranormal has become the "normal" around our house.

We live in a 158 year-old house (that's old for Southern KY)--and it's been under renovation/restoration for 7 years because we're doing it all ourselves and that's a slow process.

When we first started gutting the house and redoing stuff, tools would go missing, we'd replace them (the same tool as many as three or four times). I was blaming my husband's messy work habits for stuff getting lost, then we began to find stuff INSIDE THE WALLS--those tools we'd lost--we'd tear out walls and there they were. Stuff we'd do would get "undone" and we'd have to do it over--eventually we gave up and had the house blessed and the spirits exorcised so we could carry on.

And it's true. Children can see stuff when they're little, and I think they stop seeing stuff because "we" teach them that it isn't real. So they become convinced that it isn't, and lose the ability.

Kirsten, Stephanie is one of my good buds and is a great writer. I owe her for a lot of great advice throughout the years. And it's funny that this post and Stephanie's name come up today because I'm blogging about my love of paranormal over at The Midnight Hour blog, of which Steph is a part:

http://www.themidnighthour.net/

Christie, I love a lot of the paranormal programs you mentioned plus a few others. I watch Heroes, Journeyman, Reaper, Supernatural (my fave!) and Moonlight.

Caren, you haven't read J.R. Ward! Hie this to a bookstore this instance (no, I don't care what your boss says) and get Dark Lover, the first in the series. And if you like historical paranormals, and if you don't mind throwing some YA in, you might really enjoy Libba Bray's series that started with A Great and Terrible Beauty.

Glad you all have been chatting without me today. And thank God for libraries. That's were I am now. I couldn't take it any longer and needed an email fix.

Andrea,

Congrats on beating the Aussies in this morning. I love when that happens to me.

Joan, keep up with those Romans. They're bound to win us all over.

doglady--I LOVED the story. I really believe kids can see things we can't.

Susan, you cracked me up with your story. It sounds like something I'd do.

Cassondra, I loved the story about the tools missing during your remodel. I've heard you can definitely get an increase in activity when you start to change things in a house. We haven't had anything like that yet, but I live in a 60s split level so I'm not expecting much.

Okay, I'm going to get kicked off the library pc soon so I'm off. I'll check in after dinner.

Kirsten, I hear you on the "no time for TV". You guys have seen me say a million times that I don't watch TV. It's really true. I've heard "Supernatural" and "Pushing Daisies" are great shows (EW adores them!), but I won't see them unless they put whole seasons on DVD and I get them from Netflix.

That's how I have been hooked on "Dead Like Me". I think it was on for two seasons about 3 years ago. I love it! So, naturally, it's long gone. I don't think I've watched a show while it was on TV since "Friends" in the mid-90s. And even then, it was iffy. *g*

Claudia, aren't they trying to normalize the show schedules again this year? EW said that "Lost", well, lost a bunch of viewers by monkeying around with the schedule. I heard they were trying to do better this year to retain viewers. Great for you!

Christie - Good Topic and I love the picture. I don't think paranormals will ever go away, (thank heavens!). I'm not a fan of dark, creepy, lock the doors paranormals. Those come a little too close to horror for me. Toss in a little magic and I'm good. Or an intelligent time-travel, love it.

Doglady - your story gave me the shivers. I've always wanted to see a ghost. I've hung out at haunted restaurants & homes that are supposively haunted and nada. Maybe I want to see that too badly, or maybe my snores scare them away at night. My kids say always said my snoring could wake the dead(or frighten them away) ;-)

Susan - LOL at your ghost story. You had me going there. Perhaps the ghost really woke your husband up, because they knew what would happen if they stumbled into the room.

Great post, Christie! I love paranormals though I'm not crazy about super dark/scary stories or movies *g*

I don't get to watch a lot of TV but my oldest daughter and I are watching season one of Supernatural and we both love it. I also used to watch Charmed with both my daughters *g* I haven't watched Heroes yet but I've been wanting to check out Reaper and Pushing Daisies.

I recently read Stephanie Rowe's He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot which was a total blast and I love Meg Cabot's Mediator and 1-800 Where R You series.

Great paranormals? J.R. Ward - oh, yes! Kathryn Smith's turn of the century vamps. So much emotion and passion. Son of the Morning by Linda Howard. Ghost and Mrs. Muir with Rex Harrison as the sexy ghost.

I loving Heroes,its fun anticipating what's going to happen next. Reaper is looking like a good series, the devil frustrates me and the friends crack me up...I was hoping that Dresden Files and Blood Ties would've had another season, they had hot leads.

Like everyone else I love paranormals. But the ones I love must give me a powerful alpha male as the center of the story. He can be a Vampire or Dark hunter or Brawny Scott time-traveler, but it is the MAN that makes me get all hot and bothered. He can kill without a moments notice, as long as, A. It's to defend his woman, race or someone less able to defend themselves or B. and it's part of his animalisitc nature to do so.

Okay, I don't have a haunted house or ghosts, but I have a mother who has what I term "woo-woo moments". Examples:

I finaled in the Harlequin Intrigue contest a few years back. Mom called me that day, before I had a chance to call her. "Honey, is something going on with your books? I thought about it all the way home from Tennessee, (they live in Ohio)".

Oldest child wrapped her car around a pole the week before Thanksgiving. Mom called within the hour. "Honey, is Alison okay? I've had a bad feeling about her all day."

Son lost his job. Mom called that night, "Honey is everything okay with Eric? He's been on my mind all day."

Middle child finds out she's pregnant. A WEEK before..."Honey, is Lyndsey pregnant? I dreamed about her having a little girl." Oh yeah, and it's a girl.

Paranormals are not my cup of tea I am not into the TV shows or movies either probably because I don't understand the unknown I rather like a bit of time travel but not vampires etc. But I really think that they have a big market and will be around for a long time.No secret my favourites are the historical romances.Have FunHelen

I enjoy most paranormal shows/movies but like Donna, draw the line at gore and "horror".

LOST is a show that I think IS LOST. The first season was great...second not so much...third better but I swear, I can't get a handle on where it's heading. I think Henry Gale though, is the creepiest villian ever! And Desmond gives Sawyer a run for his money.

Never had a particularly scary experience myself but when I visited Charleston, SC last year, I can say the air THROBS with otherworldly energy.

Less than a block from the 200 year old carriage house/B & B we were staying at on the Battery was the site where a LOT of pirates were hung. One night, a violent storm hit and it didn't take the stretch of a fiction writer's imagination to ...imagine...they were coming back.... (shiver)

Power is back but someone cut through my home office telephone wire. Hey, maybe that's a good thing because clients can't reach me unless they use my cell. Unfortunately, I think they all know my cell.

I'm so glad you all liked the topic. I love Halloween and I can't decorate this year! It's killing me. I'll be back after I help the 10 yr old with Math.

I always say I'm not a huge paranormal fan but then I realised, like Anna, one of my favourite TV shows as a kid was The Ghost and Mrs Muir. Although that was the Hope Lange/Edward Mulhair version.I was also a huge fan of Six Feet Under which often had vague paranormal elements being set in a funeral home and all.I really like the show about the psychic Allison Dubois(name escapes me) as well although it creeps me out and I can't watch it alone. In fact I'm alone in the house today reading these ghost stories and I'm pretty creeped out. And that says a lot. I think I mentioned on an earlier post I'm a hospital trained nurse. I've never met a bunch of people who can tell ghost stories that would turn you grey!!!

There's also a geat Melbourne writer - Keri Arthur who writes para's and sets them in Melbouren. Riley Jensen is the lead chacter and she's half human half were. She's a NYT best seller so her book are very popular and I really enjoyed "Full Moon Rising" when I didn't think I would.

I know I couldn't write one. Although now Foanna and this blog has me thinking about a time travel involving Emmeline Pankhurst and Florence Nightingale. What the? I could never write that! Must. Stop. Thinking. About. It. Hmmm.

TGAMM - I remember the TV series but I just adore the film. Actually there's another paranormally (I'm like Jeanne, inventing words!) old film called A Portrait of Jennie that I just love too. Joseph Cotten as an artist who falls in love with a woman who is in a different time. Wow!

Good evening, Ladies. (In my best Dracula voice.) Actually, when my 6 year old brother identified a man who had been dead for @15 years as his "imaginary" friend it was hard to tell who was more freaked out - my parents or our landlord, the man's brother. It was strange, but our dog and cat would not go into the room when Brian was in there alone. They often stood at the foot of the stairs - the dog barking and the cat just staring, all hair on end. It got cold one night (it was England, it cold MOST nights) and my mother told my dad to go up and get the heavy quilts out of the wardrobe and cover myself and then my brothers with one. My brothers slept together in one bed. My father came back downstairs and told her "I don't know why you sent me up there. You already covered the kids and you left the wardrobe door open." To this day, she swears there were no quilts on our beds when she kissed us good night. AND to this day, my now 43 year old brother says "John did it." He doesn't talk about it much, but he doesn't deny it either.

I'm a bit of a paranormal virgin, actually, Christie. I keep wanting to delve into that area but there's never enough time for all the things I want to do!

I only got into Buffy and Angel (years later than everyone else) because I was breastfeeding at the time and hadn't yet worked out how to hold a book and feed at the same time and I refused to watch the general run of daytime television. I was hooked! I also love Shana Abe's The Smoke Thief, though probably that's more fantasy than paranormal. And Nalini Singh's Psy series is fantastic too. I look forward to being educated--I'm going to try some of those shows and books everyone else has recommended.

Forward Page

September Releases

Still Available

Headlines

Donna MacMeans, Trish Milburn, and Nancy Northcott will all be in Atlanta for the Moonlight and Magnolias conference in Decatur, Georgia September 30 through October 2nd. If you're in the area, stop by for the booksigning. We'd love to see you.

Redeeming the Rogue by Donna MacMeans received a 4.5 star TOP PICK! review from Romantic Times Magazine.

Living in Color by Trish Milburn is now available on Kindle, Smashwords and at barnesandnoble.com for the Nook.